Kemahl Russell makes New York debut on Sept 9

Ringside 01/09/2017

Uprising Promotions middleweight Kemahl “Hitman” Russell (11-1, 9 KOs) will be making his New York debut next Saturday, Sept. 9, facing Ian Green (12-1, 9 KOs) of New Jersey at Resorts World Casino in Queens. In the bout, Russell will be battling Green for the vacant Junior NABF middleweight championship belt.

“First and foremost, we want to thank Evander Holyfield, Eric Bentley and Real Deal Boxing for this opportunity,” said Ronson Frank, President of Uprising Promotions. “Obviously, it has been really tough getting on shows right now in New York due to limited availability. We are excited about this fight, and we feel that it is very winnable for us. Russell has been working hard, and he is coming off an impressive first round knockout last month. His confidence is sky high, and training camp has been going really well. Come September 9, we are looking to take it to Ian Green and come out of there with a win.”

Russell is coming off a devastating first-round knockout of Nigel Edwards in Jamaica just a little over a month ago, and he has remained in camp since that bout to prepare for Green. The win for Russell was a strong statement after the lone loss of his career in March to unbeaten Sergiy Derevyanchenko, who is now the number one contender for the IBF Middleweight Championship.

Russell started his professional career with 10 consecutive victories, eight of those coming by way of knockout. The Kingston native won the Jamaican edition of the Contender Boxing Series in 2015, stopping Richard Holmes in the fourth round of those finals. He earned his way into the Contender Finale with stoppage wins over Kevin Placide and Kevin Hylton before a unanimous decision victory over Devon Moncrieffe in the semifinals.

Green enters this bout following a majority decision over Andy Mejias in March. His lone professional defeat came in 2016 to New York middleweight Devaun Lee, who fights Giovanni Lorenzo on this same card next weekend in Queens.